This page gives a little more background
information on some of the old hand-tools
and methods which were in use for much of the Victorian age.

Although steam powered machinery
came into use on the larger farms and estates, old ways such as horse-ploughs
were still used in places long after the death of Queen Victoria.

Scythe
- a long handled tool with a curved blade for cutting the stalks of corn
in the field.
Scythes are shownon theright.

Sheaves
- bundles of corn stalks tied together after being cut in the field. See
the picture belowright.

Scythe

Scythes
in use

Sickle
- a tool with a semicircular blade for cutting the stalks of corn in the
field.A sickle is shown in
use farright.

Ricks or
hayricks - round or rectangular mounds of cut hay with sloping
tops left out in the fields to dry. See the photograph at the
top of this page. Nowadays valuable crops are stored under
cover in large farm buildings.

Sheaves

Sickle
in use

Threshing
- the process of separating ears of corn from the stalks they grew on.
An early implement called a flail for threshing corn, shown on
the right, is on display at RadnorshireMuseum in Llandrindod Wells.

Reaper
- a machine which cuts the stalks of corn in the field.

Oxen
at work

Oxen
- an old name for breeds of cattle used for tasks such as pulling heavy
items like ploughs and wagons. See the picture above
right.

Some of the changes which affected
livestock farmers during the Victorian age are shown on the next
page...